JUDGES AWARD

Winner: Secretts Farm

When the Ivy's head chef Alan Bird wants rare and exquisite salad leaves to hand-toss for his customers, he calls Secretts market gardeners in Surrey. Founded in 1908, this family-run company grows 35 different varieties of leaf, including unusual ones like red vein sorrel, golden streaks mustard and red orach, alongside a huge range of other vegetables and soft fruit. 'We pride ourselves on the freshness of our product,' says Greg Secrett. 'Nothing we sell has been harvested more than a day before and we dispatch produce all over the country.' As well as the Ivy, Secretts supply Smiths of Smithfield, the Ritz, the Savoy, the River Café and the South East's more discerning food shops. 'I'm impressed by their range,' says OFM judge Ruthie Rogers of the River Café.

It wasn't always thus; a decade or so ago, Secretts had given their entire farm over to growing spinach for supermarkets, before realising that the demand from London restaurants and the public for home-grown veg and neglected varieties meant their traditional expertise was once more needed. 'The salad leaves you find in supermarkets are grown in the open air, either here or abroad,' explains Greg. 'Ours are grown under glass in our four acres of greenhouses, which means that we can protect them from too much wind, rain or sun. As a result the quality is much higher.'

· For stockists and mail order call Secretts on 01483 520500 or visit them at Hurst Farm, Chapel Lane, Milford, Goldalming, Surrey.

Runner-up: Bacheldre Watermill

Three-and-a-half years ago, Becheldre was on the market as a campsite with 'granary apartments' and a small watermill thrown in. It was snapped up by Royal Mail workers Matt and Anne Scott, who quickly developed a passion for flour production. The result is a range of award-winning flours developed by self-taught miller Matt, including their strong malted flour blend prepared in a rhythm blade mixer dating from 1890. Bacheldre sources its grain from organic and biodynamic farms, and plans to expand into cakes, biscuits and bread.

· Bacheldre Watermill, Churchstoke, Montgomery, Powys (01588 620489). At selected Waitrose stores.

Runner-up: Poilâne

'A loaf of Poilâne's amazing sourdough is unlike any other bread: dense, intense, distinctive,' says our food writer and judge Jay Rayner. 'Others have attempted to make their own sourdough loaves but the best they have ever achieved is "not as good as Poilâne".' Now Poilâne is also baked in London and sold in supermarkets (Waitrose branches in central London), but the firm was founded by Pierre Poilâne in Paris in 1932. He made bread using stoneground flour, natural fermentation and a wood-fired baking oven; it's a technique which has been faithfully followed.

· Poilâne, Elizabeth Street, London SW1 (020 7808 4910). Harrods; Fortnum & Mason; Waitrose.

Runner-up: Heritage Prime

Heritage Prime at Shedbush Farm produces some of the best pork you'll ever eat. Its secret is biodynamic farming, which draws on the work of philosopher Rudolf Steiner and aims to care for the whole environment, working in concert with the health-giving forces of nature. 'Rebalancing' land and livestock homeopathically, as owners Ian and Denise Bell do, might sound a bit dotty, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. And the eating, of Aberdeen Angus, beef Shorthorn, Tamworth pigs, Portland sheep and traditional breeds of poultry, is exceptionally good.

· Shedbush Farm, Muddy Ford Lane, Stanton St Gabriel, Bridport, Dorset (01297 489304).